Tag: turn

Feds turn antitrust focus to digital pharma ads

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At issue in the FTC probe is whether the deal would help IQVIA, a $35 billion pharmaceutical data and analytics company, lock up the bulk of the market for digital advertising of pharmaceuticals aimed at doctors and patients, thereby harming rivals and potentially increasing costs for drugmakers, said three of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential investigation. IQVIA is already the largest player in health data and analytics.
The FTC is nearing the end of its investigation, and staff lawyers reviewing the deal are leaning toward filing a lawsuit to block it, according to two of the people. No final decision has been made, and the agency could ultimately choose to not bring a case.
“There are many companies — from very large, well-known companies (e.g., Google, Microsoft/Xandr, WebMD) to smaller recent entrants — providing technology, data, and services to support digital advertising from life science companies to doctors and patients,” IQVIA spokesperson Trent Brown said. “IQVIA began providing some of these services only in the past few years, and the DeepIntent business will fill a gap in IQVIA’s offerings by adding a demand-side platform.”
Brown said the company will continue working with the FTC to clear the deal.
A DeepIntent spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. A FTC spokesperson declined to comment.
IQVIA is the leading provider of pharmaceutical sales and reference data, and also sells software for analyzing that information. Drug companies use IQVIA’s trove of information — which includes over 800 million de-identified patient records and petabytes of sales, promotional and prescription data — to gauge the likely demand for the drugs they’re developing and accurately compensate their sales forces. Generic drug companies, for example, can use the data to determine if it is financially feasible to introduce a competitor to a branded drug.
DeepIntent is a privately held advertising technology company that works with pharmaceutical companies to market drugs to doctors and patients. It also helps client companies measure and improve the success of those ad campaigns.
IQVIA made multiple moves in 2022 to build out an advertising business, including the separate purchase of Lasso Marketing, another health care ad tech company.

The FTC is investigating both the combination of the two direct competitors — Lasso and DeepIntent — as well as so-called “vertical” concerns of whether IQVIA would be able to leverage its mountain of pharmaceutical sales data to monopolize the pharmaceutical advertising market, three of the people said.
In its most recent annual report, IQVIA said the scope of its data covers more than 85 percent of the world’s pharmaceuticals. That includes “more than 1.2 billion comprehensive, longitudinal, non-identified patient records spanning sales, prescription and promotional data, medical claims, electronic medical records, genomics, and social media” from around 150,000 data suppliers.
Pharmaceutical advertising is big business. The total U.S. market for pharma ads is at least $11.5 billion, based on data collected by advertising analytics company Standard Media Index. Darrick Li, SMI’s vice president of sales in North America said anecdotal evidence could put that number as high as $15 billion. Of that, he said, around 53 percent (roughly $8 billion at the high estimate) is digital, which is growing at a rapid 17 percent clip, in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the year-earlier period, Li said.
And while the pharmaceutical industry has been slow to evolve from traditional television ads, the digital shift is happening, and that’s where companies like DeepIntent come in. According to industry participants, it is one of a handful of companies helping drugmakers target ads at both doctors and patients. Last year the company said it could offer guarantees on the number of verified patients reached.
In targeting ads at doctors, IQVIA is already a key supplier of data to DeepIntent.
Part of the FTC investigation is focused on how the deal could pose a threat to competing ad platforms serving the pharmaceutical industry including The Trade Desk, which uses IQVIA data, as well as Pulse Point, according to three of the people with knowledge of the investigation. Those companies help advertisers, including drugmakers, place ads around the internet. The latter is owned by Internet Brands, which also owns WebMD and Medscape, an informational service for health care providers.
The FTC is concerned that with both DeepIntent and Lasso, the bulk of these ads will run through IQVIA, those people said. Those ads show up on health care-focused websites used by doctors, and general websites across the internet.
Spokespeople for The Trade Desk and Pulse Point did not respond for comment.
The FTC is also focused on IQVIA’s ability to control the market for services that measure the success of digital advertising campaigns. IQVIA offers this service, as do companies including Veeva Systems and PurpleLab. Those companies can currently measure the success of advertising campaigns run by DeepIntent, but if the merger goes through, the FTC is concerned IQVIA would make it more difficult for them to do so, according to three of the people.
Spokespeople for Veeva and PurpleLab did not respond for comment.
“Does this give IQVIA the incentive and ability to withhold the data or raise prices to people who access it today? If the answer to that is ‘yes,’ then maybe there’s an antitrust issue here,” a health care lawyer said on the condition of anonymity, due to client conflicts.
The FTC is concerned with exactly that scenario, the people said.
However, at least one ad tech expert disagrees.
“IQVIA in this case is just buying a revenue stream,” said Augustine Fou, a digital advertising consultant who advises companies including drugmakers. “They are unlikely to turn away revenue from selling data if other companies are willing to pay for it. While it’s possible that IQVIA could favor its own platform, for example by only selling outdated data to competitors, that would be difficult to prove before it happened.”
When a company controls a key input used by its competitors — in this case pharmaceutical sales data — it only works to withhold that data from rivals if it facilitates a price increase that would justify the lost revenue.
In this case, Fou said IQVIA would be unlikely to recoup its losses by raising prices for its advertising services. And even though DeepIntent’s lower data costs post-merger would allow it to theoretically undercut its rivals on price, it would take years to get advertisers and agencies to switch to DeepIntent, even with prolonged, deeply discounted pricing, because of long-term contracts, Fou said.
IQVIA is no stranger to antitrust scrutiny or the FTC. The company was previously investigated by the agency’s lawyers for how it bundles various products, and its unwillingness to allow competing software companies to access its data. The related FTC investigation, first reported by The Capitol Forum, did not result in an enforcement action.
Antitrust enforcers in recent years have been wading deeply into the complex world of digital advertising, primarily targeting Google, which was sued by the Justice Department in January over allegations it has illegally monopolized the market.
Within the greater world of programmatic advertising, DeepIntent is a relatively small player. However, specializing in health care gives it an edge in its specific niche over larger players. For example, Google allows pharmaceutical companies to run search ads and place ads in health care-focused websites. However, the platform does not allow advertisers to target consumers based on health information and also cannot target doctors directly.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment.
Google’s leading position in the overall digital ad market is not a factor in the FTC’s investigation, according to three of the people with knowledge of the probe.
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#Feds #turn #antitrust #focus #digital #pharma #ads
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 9, 2023
GOP tries to paint Biden’s labor nominee as radical, hoping to turn Dem votes against her

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A handful of Senate Democrats have yet to commit to confirming Su, who stepped in as acting secretary after Marty Walsh left the Labor Department’s top job in mid-March to take over as head of the NHL players’ union.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), one of Su’s chief proponents, downplayed concerns about her confirmation, saying her endorsement from Walsh, who was popular with some Republicans, and meetings with senators will help convince moderates to vote for her.
“She’s doing the best job of the whole thing, which is she’s sitting down and making herself available and she’s had a very good meeting with a large number of” senators, Duckworth said in an interview. “And so I think it’s progressing very nicely.”
Duckworth added: “I think she’s making the case for herself. And I think Marty Walsh coming out as strongly as he has in support of her work, is a very helpful voice to have out there.”
Su told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is weighing her nomination, she would be an honest broker in the job.
“I have been a leader dedicated to finding and expanding the vast areas of common ground between employers and employees,” she said. “I believe that the Department of Labor should make it as easy as possible for employers to keep workers safe on the job.”
Business groups have targeted Su, fearful that she would pursue regulations that would have major ramifications for app-based companies like Uber and Lyft, franchise restaurants and other employers. The gig-job companies, for instance, are battling efforts to make it easier to reclassify some workers as as employees, which would strain their business models.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate committee considering Su’s nomination, cited that industry pressure in his opening remarks Thursday praising Su.

“The debate over Ms. Su really has nothing to do with her qualifications,” he said. “This debate really has everything to do with the fact that she is a champion of the working class in this country.”
Republicans spent much of Thursday’s hearing trying to poke holes in Su’s record at the Labor Department and as a top labor official in California before that, hoping to crack Democratic unity.
Republicans hammered Su for her stewardship of California’s unemployment insurance system, which issued tens of billions in wrongful or fraudulent payments in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. As labor secretary, Su would be in charge of the federal-state partnership on UI.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions confirmation hearing for Julie Su to be the Labor Secretary on Capitol Hill, April 20, 2023.
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Alex Brandon/AP Photo
“The buck stops at the top,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said. “You’re the person running UI, you’re the one who decided to waive the guardrails … the idea of promoting a person who’s had that experience to a position of leadership of the entire Department of Labor makes no sense at all.”
GOP senators also pressed Su for regulatory commitments on independent contractor and joint employer regulations. Su reiterated the Labor Department’s position that it does not have the authority to impose a test similar to California’s controversial “ABC” test for whether a worker is an employee or not and said that the department does not plan to pursue a joint employment rule, which could make companies like fast-food chains liable for violations at their franchises.
“There’s not a joint-employer rule on our regulatory agenda,” Su said, adding that she understands the value of the franchise model given her family’s experience running a pizza shop after immigrating from China.
Republicans also criticized her for a relative lack of experience brokering collective bargaining negotiations — a specialty of Walsh’s — a move geared at sowing doubts among the undecided cohort that includes Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Su’s nomination is a high-stakes test for Sanders, who took the committee’s gavel in January, as well as the White House, which has at times struggled to shepherd labor nominees through the narrowly divided Senate.
The HELP committee has scheduled a confirmation vote for Su next Wednesday, which would clear the way for a final floor vote later in the year.
Kelly and Tester both said Thursday they’re still undecided on whether they will support her for the position, with Tester saying that he plans to meet one-on-one with Su next week “hopefully.”
Democrats’ calculus is further complicated by the ongoing absence of Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is recovering from shingles and has not been in Washington for several weeks.
When asked about any concerns to get Su confirmed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dodged the question and said: “She’s a great nominee and we’re working hard to get her confirmed.”
Su has won the support of some business groups, such as the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, but her strongest support comes from labor unions and organizations representing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. If confirmed, Su would be Biden’s first AAPI Cabinet secretary and join three other AAPI Cabinet members.
Unions have recently begun stepping up their efforts on behalf of Su. The AFL-CIO is rolling out a six-figure campaign that includes ads in D.C. and Arizona — home to Kelly and Sinema, both of whom voted to confirm Su as deputy secretary but are on the fence — and is considering whether to expand to other states.
“This is the time for them to show who they stand with: Is it workers, or is it big corporations?” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters Wednesday. “If you voted for her as deputy secretary, the only thing that’s changed is that she has actually more experience and more expertise.”
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#GOP #paint #Bidens #labor #nominee #radical #hoping #turn #Dem #votes
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 20, 2023
Indian students turn PPE waste into eco-friendly bricks without cement

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New Delhi: A team of engineering students has devised a method to turn hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) waste, which typically swells-up landfills, into bricks that are stronger and do not use any cement.
Not only do these “poly bricks” have a three-time higher compressive strength as compared to the common red bricks, they are much lighter and can be produced in a far shorter time.
Since the curing time to reach ISO standards is less than 24 hours, the bricks are ready quicker and cheaper than common red or concrete hollow bricks and meet the water absorption specifications.

The team from the civil engineering department of Sona College — Aravind Kumar from final year, Kamalesh J B and Dharani Raj U, both from third year, and Adhavan P and Harshini E K, both from second year — found this solution while participating in a nation-wide competition.
“The technology is now available to hospital chains and other organisations interested in technology transfer to help tackle PPE waste and also reduce poisonous emissions,” Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman, Sona Group of education institutions, told IANS.
The poly brick making process starts by sterilising PPE kits with ultraviolet (UV) rays, subjecting it to heat at 160 degrees centigrade, adding sand aggregates and casting the polypropylene mass into bricks.
The poly bricks are eco-friendly as they do not use any cement or water in the process and cause minimal in process emissions as the PPE plastic waste is subjected to less than 200 degrees centigrade.
The WHO recently said the use of PPE kits used during the Covid-19 pandemic was added burden putting on the environment, due to their single-use nature.

According to the educational institution, these eco-friendly bricks can be used as regular bricks for walls as also as paver blocks instead of red bricks — in the process reducing plastic waste as well as pollution caused during cement production.
The poly bricks have good cement adhesion and can be plastered with cement.
Dr N Karuppasamy, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Sona College of Technology who mentored the team said that a patent application has been filed for this technology.
The civil engineering department has also patented a technology to use plastic waste in brick production that replaces almost 70 per cent of sand with plastic.
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#Indian #students #turn #PPE #waste #ecofriendly #bricks #cement
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 19, 2023
Gun-carrying Jan. 6 defendant takes turn on the witness stand

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Minutes later, the police line collapsed and Alberts rushed with the crowd to the foot of the Capitol. There, he confronted police officers, calling them “domestic terrorists” for refusing to permit Trump supporters to “overthrow the government,” which he characterized as a patriotic duty. He meandered the exterior of the building for hours before hurling more invective — and a water bottle — at officers trying to clear the mob from the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace plaza.
“It was wrong,” Alberts acknowledged in federal District Court in D.C. “I shouldn’t have done it.”
And as he told a jury on Monday, the entire time he was at the Capitol, he was armed with a concealed firearm and 25 rounds of ammunition, including hollow-point bullets.
It was a remarkable turn on the witness stand for Alberts, whose story remains relatively unknown despite his prolonged and notable role in the arc of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The early drive up the west side stairs of the Capitol by Alberts, Reffitt and others led to a lengthy standoff with the police. Other rioters — those who would ultimately smash their way into the building — used that standoff to amass underneath nearby scaffolding meant for Joe Biden’s inaugural stage. Within minutes, they would make their charge through police lines and into the building.
Few rioters spent the amount of time Alberts did at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Although he didn’t go inside, he remained in sensitive locations where police struggled to contain the crowd — and he repeatedly ratcheted up tension between the crowd and the officers.
And equally few rioters have attempted to tell their story to a jury under oath, particularly in a case with an extraordinary amount of video evidence documenting Alberts’ alleged crimes. Jurors are expected to get the case on Tuesday or Wednesday, with a verdict likely later this week.
To hear Alberts tell it, his entire day on Jan. 6 was a hapless accident — a mix of bad timing, attempts at heroic intervention to protect pro-Trump protesters and a rising fury at police for overzealous crowd-control tactics.
Alberts said he had intended to listen to Trump’s speech but became distracted by an unattended backpack, which he helped remove to a safe distance from the crowd. (The backpack, prosecutors would later elicit, contained nothing dangerous.) From there, Alberts said, he saw other protesters streaming toward the Capitol and decided to follow suit. When he arrived, he witnessed at least one member of the crowd experience a medical episode and helped police keep the sidewalk clear to permit the man to be evacuated from the scene.

Alberts said his alarm over this episode heightened his concern when he arrived at the base of the west side steps of the Capitol and saw police firing less-lethal munitions at the crowd. In his view, he said, their actions were unjustified and he decided he would climb the stairs toward the police line to help shield other members of the crowd from the police.
“Somebody had to put a stop to it,” he testified on Monday, adding that he was willing to ”take damage to prevent more people from getting harmed or hurt.”
On his way up the stairs, Alberts encountered Reffitt, who was doubled over after being sprayed by police. (Last year, Reffitt became the first Jan. 6 defendant to go before a jury, which found him guilty of numerous felony counts. He’s currently serving a sentence of seven and a half years.)
Alberts said he became instantly fixated on Reffitt and concerned that the man might fall off the elevated railing he was perched on. Though he tried to get Reffitt to descend the staircase to safety, Reffitt continued to urge the crowd onward, Alberts recalled, saying Reffitt shouted, “Forward!” Suddenly, Alberts said, someone placed the large wooden pallet at his feet.
Alberts said he picked it up to “dispose of” the object, but was met with a hail of crowd-control munitions, so instead he used it as a shield to protect himself as he advanced toward the firing officers.
Alberts described his rhetoric toward police that day as “hyperbolic” and ill-advised, informed more by his fury at the officers’ treatment of the crowd than a desire to topple the government.
“I was angry,” Alberts said.
But prosecutors pressed him repeatedly to explain why, if his actions were as innocent as he described, he lingered on Capitol grounds for hours after it became clear that police had wanted him to leave.
Prosecutors appeared stunned by Alberts’ explanations for his protracted presence at the Capitol. Alberts repeatedly said he was there to make his voice heard, and insisted that the police were trying to stifle the protests happening outside the building. He said he never intended to resist or obstruct police activity or the session of Congress that was happening inside the Capitol.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Konig pressed him on why he ignored so many obvious signs that officers were trying to get him and other rioters to leave. And Konig reminded jurors over and over again that concealed on Alberts’ right side was a handgun. Notably, Reffitt was convicted last year for crimes that included carrying a handgun on Capitol grounds — meaning two of the first rioters to square off with police had concealed firearms.
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#Guncarrying #Jan #defendant #takes #turn #witness #stand
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 18, 2023
2008 Malegaon blast case: Ex-Army officer becomes 34th witness to turn hostile

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Mumbai: A former Army captain, a witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case who had accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials of threatening him to give a statement before a magistrate, on Wednesday turned hostile before a special NIA court here.
He became the 34th prosecution witness to be declared hostile in the case in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bhopal, Pragya Singh Thakur, is one of the key accused.
This witness had filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission alleging that the state ATS officials threatened him to give a statement before a magistrate.

The witness had earlier given a statement to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that when he first met Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in 2006, the latter who is one of the accused in the case, had asked the captain to work with him in the Abhinav Bharat organisation.
Later that year, he was invited to a meeting at Purohit’s house in Pune. Purohit and an unidentified person had attended the meeting, where there was discussion on the work of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , the witness had told the NIA.
The discussion in the meeting was that the RSS should do “aggressive and nationalistic work” as it was not doing so and Abhinav Bharat can do that, he had told the probe agency.
The witness had also told the NIA that in 2008, he had attended a meeting on the participation of Abhinav Bharat in politics.
He also took part in a training session arranged by Purohit at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh in 2008. About 20 youths from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka attended the camp. Other accused Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were also present there, the witness had told the probe agency.

He said the ATS (which probed the case earlier) at Nashik questioned him about his association with Purohit. They later took him to Mumbai and threatened him to give confession before the magistrate. After that, he had filed a complaint against the ATS officials at the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission in 2009.
However, during his deposition before the special NIA court judge A K Lahoti on Wednesday, the witness denied giving any statement. The court then declared him hostile.
Six people were killed and more than 100 injured on September 29, 2008, when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town in north Maharashtra, some 200 km from Mumbai.
The ATS probed the case initially before the National Investigation Agency took over. A total of seven accused including Thakur and Colonel Prasad Purohit are facing trial in the case.
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#Malegaon #blast #case #ExArmy #officer #34th #witness #turn #hostile
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 5, 2023
Foreign investors turn net buyers in Indian stocks

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New Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net buyers in Indian stock markets after having sold two months on a trot in January and February – data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) revealed.
FPIs have bought assets worth about Rs 7,936 crore in Indian stock markets in March 2023, according to NSDL data.
The banking crisis in the US that emanated after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in early March seemed to have made renewed appetite for Indian stocks.

One of the most prominent lenders in the world of technology startups, Silicon Valley Bank, which was struggling, collapsed on March 10, after a run on the bank by the depositors. After the run on the bank, local regulators closed down the tech lender and put it under the control of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In latest, First Citizens Bank agreed to acquire all of its deposits and loans.
In January and February, FPIs sold equities worth Rs 28,852 crore and Rs 5,294 crore, respectively. NSDL data showed. Foreign investors were apparently cautious amid risks from the then volatility in Indian stock markets.
“The sustained selling by FPIs appears to be over since they have turned buyers in the last few days. The near-term outlook for FPI looks much more positive now. Even though Indian valuation continues to be relatively high, the recent market correction has made valuations a bit more reasonable than earlier,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Barring some exceptions, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) had been selling equities in the Indian markets for over a year, which started in October 2021 for various reasons.
Tightening monetary policy in advanced economies including rising demand for dollar-denominated commodities, and strength in the US dollar had triggered a consistent outflow of funds from Indian markets. Investors typically prefer stable markets in times of high market uncertainty.

In 2022, foreign portfolio investors sold Rs 121,439 crore worth of stocks in India on a cumulative basis, the data on the NSDL website showed.
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#Foreign #investors #turn #net #buyers #Indian #stocks
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 2, 2023
Campaign shares plans on how Trump will turn himself in

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The campaign says he will spend his weekend at home in Palm Beach, and he plans to return after business at the courthouse is complete. Over the weekend he will keep his usual schedule — which almost always includes an evening dinner on the club’s patio with his family and associates and golf at his nearby clubs.
Trump has been indicted on charges related to the Manhattan district attorney’s grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels. The exact charges are still under seal.
His campaign does not have any other public events planned for Monday and Tuesday. Trump, according to his campaign, will be “back at it” on Wednesday. So far, the only major event on his calendar is a speech at the National Rifle Association conference mid-April in Indianapolis.
Since news of the indictment, Trump’s campaign has worked to drum up support with fundraising appeals and the coordination of surrogates and lawyers on T.V. They are bracing for what will likely be a media spectacle as Trump turns himself in.
In a sign of Trump’s successful appeals, his campaign announced on Friday that it raised $4 million in the first 24 hours following news of the indictment. A press release from the campaign noted that “25% of donations came from first-time donors” and the average contribution was only $34.
The Trump campaign is also keeping tabs of others who are trying to financially benefit off of the indictment. Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign adviser, has been calling candidates and campaigns raising money off the news and telling them to stop, according to a person familiar with campaign discussions.
Law enforcement officials in Manhattan braced for potential unrest next week surrounding the arraignment of Trump, beefing up security in and around Lower Manhattan. Officials were discussing blocking off the streets around the courthouse and removing all cars in the case of a bomb threat, according to a law enforcement source.
Some 40 press vehicles that have been parked outside the courthouse since last week would make it difficult to secure the area, according to the source, who added the former president planned to arrive via motorcade.

Dozens of court officers along with NYPD units were stationed outside Manhattan Criminal Court Friday, where the District Attorney has his office. Inside the courthouse, court officers patrolled almost every floor, with the 15th floor where trials take place, closed off to reporters and the public.
“The bottom line is that everyone is working overtime, it’s a stressful situation, there are a lot of crazies out there. A woman pulled a knife on someone the other day, so we are on high alert,” said Dennis W. Quirk, President of the New York Court Officers Association, referring to a Trump supporter who pulled a knife on a family with small children Wednesday. “Our job is to get this done as quickly as we can, and make sure that no one gets hurt.”
Remarks from the former president ahead of the indictment along with more recent calls for protest from Republican leaders added to concern.
“New York put your MAGA hats on. Under our constitutional rights, we WILL support President Trump and protest the tyrants. I’ll see you on Tuesday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a tweet Friday.
Greene’s tweet came after Trump called on supporters to protest the indictment and predicted “potential death & destruction” if he was charged for his alleged role in a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Additional reporting from Erica Orden and Alex Isenstadt.

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#Campaign #shares #plans #Trump #turn
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 1, 2023
Karnataka: Rollback of Muslim quota likely to turn into crisis

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Bengaluru: Withdrawal of 4 per cent reservation for Muslim community by the ruling BJP government is likely to snowball into a crisis-situation in the poll-bound Karnataka.
As the major political parties engage in a war of words over the issue, members of the Muslim community came out in the open on Tuesday to protest against the BJP government’s decision.
The ruling BJP had withdrawn reservation of Muslims under 2B category and sent a proposal to the Centre. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that the 4 per cent quota for Muslim will be given to Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
Chief Minister Bommai maintained that the reservation quota for Muslims will be intact as they will be moved to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota.
Muslim groups and political parties have come to the streets lately demanding that their quota should remain untouched. The protests have been staged in Belagavi, Chitradurga and Mandya cities of Karnataka.
The Minority Unit of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and Muslim community members had taken out a protest march in Belagavi. The agitators raised slogans against the ruling BJP party. They had also submitted a memorandum to the District Commissioner’s office.
Members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) staged a protest on the road in Chitradurga raising slogans against the government. SDPI had built a platform near DC Circle for the protest. As the police denied permission, the protest was staged on the road.
Various Muslim organisations and SDPI staged a protest against withdrawal of reservation. The protest was staged near the Vishveshvaraya statue in Mandya.

Former CM and JD (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy raised a concern that what if Muslim community takes to the streets like the Banjara community? Who will be responsible for the consequences?
“I appreciate the conduct of Muslim community at this hour. The BJP government had taken decisions as per whims and fancies. If Muslim community members had come to streets angered by withdrawal of their 4 per cent reservation, innocent people would have lost their lives,” he reiterated.
Kumaraswamy further stated that the national parties should not indulge in creating conflicting situations between castes. Both parties are indulging in this, he added.
The protest by Banjara community members over a new reservation decision by the BJP government turned violent in Shikaripura of Shivamogga district. The agitators had pelted stones on former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s residence and even attacked police.
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#Karnataka #Rollback #Muslim #quota #turn #crisis
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 28, 2023
Product-Led Onboarding: How to Turn New Users Into Lifelong Customers (Product-Led Growth Series Book 2)

Price: [price_with_discount]
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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096MQPWP9
Publisher ‏ : ‎ ProductLed Press (8 June 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7995 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
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March 27, 2023
Hyderabad: Mangoes likely to turn costly due to unseasonal rains, hailstorms

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Hyderabad: Mangoes which are considered the king of fruits are likely to turn expensive this season for mango lovers in Hyderabad. The reason behind this is the unseasonal rains and pest attacks that have affected many mango crops in different districts of the state, resulting in a double blow to their yield.
The unseasonal rains and hailstorms have not only affected the mango crop, but other crops too including maize, papaya, onion, cotton, tomato, and chili. This has caused damage to the yield, and many farmers are now worried about the impact it will have on their livelihood.
Rainfall in Telangana increases mango farmers’ woes
Though, the season started on a positive note as the day temperature increased steadily since January, the pest attacks followed by the rains and hailstorms have taken a toll on the crops. The flower-to-fruit conversion was also affected due to pest attacks, resulting in a lower yield.
Last week’s severe rains and hailstorms have only added to the woes of the farmers. This has left many farmers wondering how they will be able to survive this season.
The loss of crops due to unseasonal rains and pest attacks may also affect the export market, leading to a decrease in supply and an increase in prices. Out of the total production of mangoes in the neighboring districts of Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana, a significant portion is exported to foreign countries like Gulf countries, China, Australia, and others.
Hyderabad markets get mangoes from other states
Usually, raw mangoes are brought from different parts of Telangana in Hyderabad markets, but in the current year, raw mangoes have been brought to Hyderabad from neighbouring states too resulting in an increase in prices.
The mangoes are being brought to Hyderabad from Bengaluru and other places in the neighboring state of Karnataka.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 20, 2023